Municipal budgets aren’t nearly as dramatic. They get debated ad nauseum before anything is decided. But provincial budgets? It’s just one big document. Reporters show up at the legislature at about 7:30 a.m., sign their embargo forms and start frantically trying to read and understand it all.

You get a technical briefing, often some sandwiches to keep you going. And then by 3:15 p.m., you better have your story written because as soon as Minister Doug Horner rises to give his budget speech, the embargo lifts and the news starts flowing. (Follow @edmontonjournal or check the website Thursday.)

Legislature pages get ready to distribute the budget to MLAs in 2006. Photo by Brian J. Gavriloff / Edmonton Journal.

As soon as they hit send on the story, the reporters run up to the big rotunda and wait for all the ministers, opposition members, post-secondary leaders, unions, lobbyists, etc. to exit the chamber and come comment on the budget. It becomes a massive, humming, buzzing room full of scrums (when a bunch of reporters all shove their microphones at one person). It’s likely one of the most stressful things to cover ever, but a rush of energy, for sure. If you ever get the chance go, don’t pass it up.

But I won’t be in the lockup this time.

Mayor Stephen Mandel will be at city hall, and I’ll be working out of there as well, getting reaction to the budget news as it relates to cities.

They have a lot at stake.

The key number to watch will be the municipal sustainability initiative (MSI). If that goes up – even as dollars promised for a future year – Edmonton could use that money toward the missing $100 million for the downtown arena.

If it goes down, you’ll be seeing infrastructure projects postponed.

MSI was introduced in 2008, when Edmonton was told it would get $1.3 billion for infrastructure projects over the next 10 years.

Then in the 2008/09 budget, when the downturn hit, the province decided to stretch that time frame several years longer.

When Edmonton city council passed the 2009-11 capital budget, they decided to take advantage of lower construction costs and fast-track a slew of projects based on funding promised later. They took out $250 million in short-term loans against it, backed by a political promise (no written contract).

That money now has to be paid back between 2012 and 2016; they owe $57 million a year.

As Coun. Don Iveson said following the news the province was running an unexpected $4 billion deficit for 2012/13:

“We’re out on a limb here to the tune of a quarter billion dollars now. We really need the province to come through for us.”

This past year, the MSI was worth $167 million for the City of Edmonton.

I checked some of these numbers with Edmonton chief financial officer Lorna Rosen. She says a reduction would not affect projects already approved in the 2012-14 capital budget. But you would see a slowdown come 2015.

“That’s where you’ll see the big impact. You’re going to see delays,” she said. “We’d be disappointed with any kind of reduction.”

It’s possible the province could just stretch the fund out further, perhaps with a promise to top it up near the end, several years down the road.

Last Tuesday, Mandel seemed optimistic there would be room for the arena.

“We’re optimistic, not that the money is going to be sitting there for this year but that there’s an opportunity to do something, which we’re please about,” he told reporters after the council meeting.

The city hopes to start turning the dirt in August for the project.

Mandel will be in his office Thursday, listening to Horner’s speech. “The proof will be in the pudding, not in all the words that he says, but in the context of the budgetary documents I’m optimistic there will be adequate supply in there to meet Edmonton’s needs.”

Here’s the full audio, if you’re interested.

There were previously rumours that the province was ready to make some lottery money available for the arena project. We’ll be checking those numbers as well and we’ll see what happens tomorrow. Either way, it should be interesting.

By the way, if you’re going through the budget documents when they are released tomorrow and you see something interesting, feel free to send me an email at estolte@edmontonjournal.com or a tweet @estolte.

We encourage all readers to share their views on our articles and blog posts. We are committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion, so we ask you to avoid personal attacks, and please keep your comments relevant and respectful. If you encounter a comment that is abusive, click the “X” in the upper right corner of the comment box to report spam or abuse. We are using Facebook commenting. Visit our FAQ page for more information.